The international arrest warrant issued for Abdeslam Salah, a prime suspect in the Paris attacksFile

Reports are emerging from Paris suggesting that the prime suspect, who survived the Paris attacks and remains on the loose, was questioned by French police after the attacks and released. An international manhunt was launched by French police for gunman Abdeslam Salah, one of three brothers believed to have been involved in the coordinated attacks which left 129 dead and hundreds more injured on Friday, 13 November.

Reports say he had already been identified as the person who rented the black Volkswagen Polo used by the group of terrorists who attacked the Bataclan concert hall, killing at least 89 people.

He and two others were spoken to by police who pulled their car over on Saturday (14 November) morning on the A2 motorway between Paris and Brussels. They were stopped just hours after he had abandoned the rented car containing three Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles on the outskirts of the French capital.

While he had been identified as a person of interest, that information had not been transmitted to those responsible for conducting the border checks. The officers apparently let him go after checking his ID, BBC news reports.

French police have issued an international arrest warrant for the "dangerous" 26-year-old, advising the public not to approach him. Salah is described as having brown hair, and 5ft 7in tall (170cm).

One of Salah's brothers Ibrahim, 31, blew himself up in a solo attack outside cafe Comptoir Voltaire.
A third was arrested in Belgium.

The news comes as France carried out a massive bombardment on Raqqa this evening. Ten fighter jets operating out of French bases in Jordan and the UAE dropped 20 guided bombs on a command centre, recruitment centre for jihadists, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters, the French ministry said.

President Hollande vowed that France would respond to the attacks on Paris in "a merciless" way.